seasonal spuffy

Things I love about this fic:
-How you set the tone instantly in the first paragraph with lines like “or what passed for it nowadays” and give enough detail about the post-apocalyptic world for us to understand it without the setting bogging down the plot.

-She slid her hand up his thigh and was rewarded with a lascivious but half-hearted smirk.”
It’s so them, using sexy time as a cheerer-up.

-His sidelong glance was full of things that made no sense: hope and terror and resolve. “Told her I wanted to talk to you first.” 

It came to her then. All the pauses and hesitations, just static before, came clear. “You want to keep it.”
Really fabulous, evocative imagery (?) I don't know if 'imagery' is the right word...emotional imagery?

-“Willow,” Buffy said, “is the most dangerous optimist I know.”
Perfect description of her character! It explains both her flaws and her strengths.

-God, why was she such a harpy? Spike’d just discovered yet another miracle slapped into him, unlooked-for, and all she could feel was this cold resignation, this familiar weary suspense of adding still more logistics to the calculation of their existence.
Though heartbreaking (for Spike, I’m sure, as well as for us readers), this seems so realistic a reaction for her to have, unable to process and feeling guilty for not being able to process and just having to escape.

-bloody hell, she thought, because nowadays in her head she swore like him
<3

-“Seems a shame to waste it.” Dropping his eyes, he said, “I’ve ended so many lives. I can’t end this one.”
<3 <3 <3

-Softly, “I want what comes after.”
<3 <3 <3 I’m not sure what else to say besides <3. Maybe, flail.

-“Something to be said for it,” he said. “Big fiery orb lighting everything at once. Extravagant, you know. All that heat vented off into a vast nothingness that’s got no use for it.”
Really cool description (and creative way of looking at it) of the sun.

-Spike stilled, glancing at her with the mirror-smooth calm he’d perfected that last year in Sunnydale. Who knew souls were such camouflage?
I love when fics reference how good he got at masking his emotions in S7, since it’s such a huge difference from earlier seasons.

-and he shivered with the same old anticipation…His eyelids drooped shut, as she’d known they would.
Yeah he does [shivers]! The concept of them knowing exactly how to stimulate/calm each other is almost as hot as actual sexy times.

-He pushed himself up and twisted around to search her face for... doubt? Fear? She didn’t have the energy to pretend whatever he wanted to see or hide what he didn’t. What he saw must have been enough, because he smiled, small and careful, like too much visible joy might jinx something.
More flailing!

This fic is gorgeous and heartbreaking and a lovely prologue to the rest of the series. All of the characters’ motivations/reactions make sense, from Buffy needing to compartmentalize everything and ignore it for a while to Willow being hopeful and helpful. It’s easy to see how Buffy’s nervousness, helplessness, and unintentional coldness in the other fics stem from her characterization here. I especially like how steadfast and assured Spike is, the way he never outright says that he’ll have the baby even without her support but how it’s kind of implied and how he never stops hoping/trying to sway her in his patient-but-persistent-knows-that-Buffy-needs-time way.